In a widely anticipated move, IRONMAN today announced that Nice, France will be the co-host of the 2023 IRONMAN World Championships. Professional and age-group men will compete on September 10, 2023, while professional and age-group women will compete in Kailua-Kona Hawaii on the previously announced date of October 14, 2023.
The move comes after IRONMAN remained committed to two days of World Championship racing in 2023, with split days for men and women. However, following the 2022 event, Kona and the County of Hawaii determined that it was only properly prepared to host a single day of racing. IRONMAN made the determination that two days of racing was important, as was keeping a world championship event in Kona. As such, the search was on for a second venue.
“In 2022, we saw the power of a two-day IRONMAN World Championship, one with dedicated race days for professional women and professional men. We believe in this concept not only to showcase the depth of both the women’s and men’s fields but also to invest further into the growth of the sport of triathlon. Nice, France, as the European birthplace of long-course triathlon, is the right place to showcase this evolution,” said Andrew Messick, President & Chief Executive Officer for The IRONMAN Group.
The co-hosted IRONMAN World Championship will continue through 2026. The 2024 World Championship races will see women rotate to race in Nice on September 22, 2024. Men will race in Kona on October 26, 2024 — the latest race date in October since Normann Stadler and Michellie Jones emerged victorious in 2006.
Due to the move to a co-hosted event and the men’s race taking place in September, the qualification cycle for the 2023 IRONMAN World Championship has changed. The 2023 qualification cycle for men will now end at IRONMAN Lake Placid on July 23, 2023. Men’s races in August will now qualify for the 2024 IRONMAN World Championship in Kona. The women’s qualification cycle for 2023 continues through IRONMAN Copenhagen as previously announced. Men who had qualified for the world championship prior to this announcement may either accept their 2023 slot in Nice or be offered a single-time deferral to the 2024 race in Kona.
According to IRONMAN, Nice emerged as the preferred destination out of numerous potential sites due to its long history of hosting world-class triathlon racing, including the ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships five times from 1994 to 2002, and the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships in 2019. Many IRONMAN World Champions have also had success at this venue, including Mark Allen (ten victories) and Paula Newby-Fraser (four wins).
